


Kittens in the Woods

by enbyred



Series: Nelix Childhood AU [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: AU, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, I may have stolen my sister's AU and played with it, M/M, Summer Camp, bet you weren't expecting that tag, nelix fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-06 16:08:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15889455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enbyred/pseuds/enbyred
Summary: When Felix runs away, Emilie convinces Gabriel that they need to let him out of the house more.Adrien stans don't interact. This story is about Felix and Nino, Adrien is only a plot device.





	Kittens in the Woods

**Author's Note:**

  * For [steampunkcircus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/steampunkcircus/gifts).



Nino brushed himself off after not quite sticking the landing when jumping off the swing. He was determined to perfect it before his mom dragged him home. He was about to run back to his swing when he heard something strange and stopped, turning toward it. Instead of going back to his favorite swing, he followed the sound. It was a lot like when he heard his sister alone in her room when she wouldn’t tell him that she wasn’t okay.

He followed the sound to a patch of bushes at the edge of the playground and discovered a blond boy on the other side of them. The boy was curled up, sniffling, and wiping his red eyes. Nino chose to sit down next to the boy in quiet support.

The boy jumped, scrambling away from Nino and frantically rubbing tears away from his face. He looked like a terrified kitten. Nino expected him to hiss at any moment.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

Staying put, Nino said, “My name’s Nino. I heard you crying, and if you need help, I’m here with my mom.” Nino looked him over for a moment. “Are you lost?”

The blond boy shook his head and curled back up, staring at the ground.

Nino scooted closer and asked quietly, “Did you run away?”

A few beats of silence passed between them. The boy nodded.

“I ran away once,” Nino admitted. “I was mad at my sister, so I ran away, but I got hurt and my dad yelled at me.” Leaning closer, he asked, “What’s your name?”

He sniffled and wiped his eyes once more. “Felix.”

Standing up, Nino extended his hand and smiled. “Wanna come home with me?”

Felix stared between Nino’s outstretched hand and his face. Slowly, and so hesitantly that Nino was afraid that if he moved, he would spook Felix and he’d run away, Felix took his hand.

Nino refused to explain to his mother where this strange blond boy came from, meaning that she had no choice but to take Felix home and feed him, quietly filing a report with the police for a lost child her son had found in the park. Two days later, when they received a call from the police that an Emilie Agreste had identified the child as her own, Mrs. Lahiffe’s heart fell that she had to see him go. While she was glad that he would be reunited with his parents, she had watched this skittish boy relax and become more comfortable in her home and around her children. He went from sleeping curled up in the corner of the couch to wandering into Nino’s room and asking if they could share before snuggling in and falling asleep in seconds.

-

“You can’t keep him cooped up!”

“I can protect my son in whatever way I see fit.”

“This isn’t protecting him, Gabriel. You’re keeping him in a cage.”

Felix sat quietly on the marble floor outside his father’s office, like he often did when he knew his parents would be discussing him. He had barely been back home for a day. His two-day escape had nearly scared his mother to death, and his father had merely placed more restrictions on him. His father had blamed Felix’s running away on being allowed to play with Chloe; he had said that she was placing rebellious ideas in his head, and he needed to be kept away from her, his only friend.

“Nathalie already homeschools him. I teach him music myself, and his other tutors all come here. He has to leave the house every once in a while. He needs friends, you can’t take that away from him.”

“If friends are as bad an influence as the Bourgeois foosball child, then I want him nowhere near them.”

“Then let him meet children who _aren’t_ Chloe Bourgeois. I'm his mother, you know that I would never put him in danger.”

“If he goes missing again--”

“Then we'll try something else. Something healthy for him.”

-

This was all completely foreign to Felix. The floors were made of wood, there was no air conditioning, and there were eight beds in a space that he thought would only have room to contain one. It was hot, people were laughing and shoving each other, some friends reuniting, and it smelled terrible.

So this was summer camp.

His mother fussed over him and triple checked that he had sunscreen, warning his counselor that he burned easily, as well as listing a number of other instructions, likely from his father. She finally smiled at him and wiped tears from her eyes, giving him a tight hug before she left. And Felix felt as though he was the only one left without a friend. Not that it was too different from normal.

“Fe!”

Felix's eyes snapped up from where he quietly sat on his bed and saw a familiar dark-haired boy, who had started wearing glasses since he last saw him.

Jumping up, Felix let himself smile as he said, “Nino.”

Mrs. Lahiffe could barely contain herself upon seeing the boys together again. Sobbing, she snapped pictures of their reunion and let Felix know that he was welcome any time he wanted.

Felix watched Nino's mother fuss as his own had until their counselor Adrien assured her that they would have a great time and they were in good hands. She showered her son with kisses before leaving the cabin.

“Alright, boys,” Adrien said with a grin. First order of business is getting to know each other. Are any of you already friends?”

Nino called out, “I'm friends with Felix!” while Felix silently grabbed Nino's sleeve.

Adrien gave them a confused look before smiling again. “That's great! You seem like very different people, and it's great to be friends with people who are different from you. So let's circle up and start out by saying what your favorite animal is.”

Felix learned a lot that day. Boys liked to hit each other. Sometimes spiders lived inside. Instead of getting a first aid kit and sanitizing, kids would usually “walk it off” when they scraped up their knees. Nino's favorite animal was a pond turtle.

-

“Come on!” Nino bounced excitedly, waiting for Felix to catch up.

Felix was trying to learn to walk it off, but he was bleeding, blood got onto his sock, he was pretty sure that blood wasn't easy to get out of clothes, and he wasn't used to navigating rocky areas like this. He was more than a little bit slower than usual.

Nino helped hoist Felix over the fallen tree in their path and they both tumbled to the ground, Felix bumping his already-hurt knee. He winced, but stood back up and continued following Nino. They were deeper in the woods than they were supposed to be, and if Felix was right, if they kept going this way, they would reach a cliff that dropped off to the lake. He hoped Nino wasn’t leading him to make that jump with him. His father had asked him the classic “If all your friends jumped off a cliff” question, and he didn’t want to have an answer based off experience.

“It was here,” Nino muttered, looking around carefully.

Vaguely glancing around the clearing just short of the cliff, Felix asked, “What was?”

Nino rolled his eyes. “If I just _tell_ you, that ruins the surprise. Have you never had a surprise before?”

Felix thought back, trying to remember if his uncaring father had ever had a surprise to keep secret, or if his mother had ever been able to keep a secret at all. He opened his mouth.

“Don’t answer that,” Nino interrupted. “I already know you haven’t. So this is your first surprise, and that means you can’t know what it is, but you can know that it’ll make you happy.”

His heart fluttering in his chest, Felix sat on a rock while Nino searched. He wasn’t quite sure why his heart felt light in his chest, or why his cheeks felt hot, but he determined that smearing blood off his leg would be a good distraction from figuring that out. He would have plenty of time to think about it through the next week and a half.

“Here it is!”

Nino’s exclamation made Felix jump, try as he might to hide it (and Nino was kind enough not to tease Felix for being so skittish).

Grinning wide, Nino held up a black kitten, and Felix felt his jaw drop.

“Is it alone?” Felix asked, extending his arms.

Nino handed over the kitten. “I think so. I haven’t seen a momma cat around, just her.”

The kitten settled into Felix’s arms, sniffing at him and nuzzling against his chest, and Felix had never felt such a strong desire to protect and love another creature.

“You said that cats are your favorite animal,” Nino mentioned quietly, sitting in the dirt in front of Felix. “And I happened to find one. I thought you would want to meet her.”

“I’m keeping her forever,” Felix declared, scratching behind the cat’s ears.

They determined that Felix couldn’t keep the cat in the cabin, both because Nino was allergic, and they would probably get in trouble. But it seemed like the kitten had a place to make camp, and she could fend for herself well enough to make it to the end of camp. It couldn’t be that hard to hide a kitten in his luggage on the way home, right?

-

Felix visited the kitten every day, bringing her scraps that he’d pocketed from the cafeteria. Sometimes Nino came with him, but he was also a fan of not having an allergy attack, so he frequently took up the burden of covering for Felix and convincing Adrien that Felix was _definitely_ within the camp grounds, and he was in no way breaking any rules. Adrien was not difficult to convince. The other boys in the cabin definitely knew that Nino was lying, but as long as they respected the lie, they were fine. Felix could have his kitten.

At the end of the first week, small gifts started appearing in their cabin. A stuffed black cat sat in the middle of the floor with “Felix” written on it in messy cursive. A pencil decorated with cats made its way to the cabin doorstep. Every gift was cat-related, every one addressed to Felix, and every one signed “Bri.” The gifts always showed up when Felix went up to the woods to check on his kitten. Nino made sure that Felix never discovered them. This Bri hadn’t made herself known. She hadn’t gotten to know him. She was obviously just watching without even trying to know Felix. Whoever she was, she needed to back off.

Nino wasn’t quite sure why he felt so protective of Felix and didn’t want a girl with a crush anywhere near him. He attributed it to knowing Felix better than everyone else did, and knowing he was skittish. No need to scare him off.

Nino couldn’t help but leave the stuffed cat on Felix’s bed, though. Without the note. The next day, he found himself flooded with various turtle items from the gift shop, including, but not limited to, a keychain, an iPod case, a tee shirt, and a plush to match the black cat.

-

The last night of camp, there was a bonfire in the clearing that was usually off limits. Adrien and his girlfriend Marinette were leading the singalong, so no one would notice if Felix wandered away for a bit to check on his cat friend, right?

She nuzzled against his ankle and purred happily. Felix picked her up and went to sit near the cliff overlooking the water. It was nicer to hear the songs from a distance, where the noise wasn’t overwhelming. He swayed to the beat, staring down at the moon reflecting off the water.

“Fe?”

He jumped violently, surprising the kitten enough to leap out of his arms and hide in the shadows. Felix turned and sighed when he saw Nino with a s’more in each hand.

“Sorry. Thought you’d want one. Adrien hasn’t noticed you’re gone yet.”

Felix gratefully took the s’more and tried to assess how best to eat it. Was being messy the only option? That seemed to be a trend at camp.

The boys sat quietly, eating and looking out at the water. Try as he might to enjoy the evening and the stickiness of his fingers, there was a pit in his stomach that reminded him that he had to go home the next day. No more sweating. No more stains. No more spider bites. No more woods. No more Nino.

“You think you’ll be back next year?” Nino asked eventually.

Sadly, Felix shook his head. “Not unless my mom convinces my father again. How many times were our parents called this week?”

Nino silently counted on his fingers how many times they had run off, then subtracted the times they hadn’t gotten caught. “Uhh, two?”

“Two times too many. I won’t be allowed back.”

Leaning his head on Felix’s shoulder, Nino mumbled, “Your dad’s mean. I wish you could come live with me.”

Felix’s heart jumped into his throat. “I...I wish I could too.”

Silence passed between them, though Felix was convinced that the beating of his heart was louder than the campfire singalong. It was so loud, pounding in his ears, and did Nino really not hear it? He seemed completely peaceful, undisturbed by the thundering in Felix’s chest. Why was he so nervous anyway? He was here with Nino, the person who made him feel safe. Nino was safe. Nino was good. He wanted to spend all of his time with Nino. So why did he want to throw up?

“Felix?”

“Mhm?”

“When we’re older, do you think…. Do you think that you would marry me?”

Felix froze. What _that_ was these feelings were? The light heart, the twisted stomach, the tremors, the dizziness, the sheer _joy_? He had spent long hours trying to figure out what these symptoms were--sometimes he thought that he was just sick--but he could never figure it out. And now Nino was asking him to marry him.

“Yes,” Felix whispered before he could sort all the thoughts bouncing around in his head.

Nino straightened up and looked intensely into Felix’s eyes. “Really?”

Closing his eyes, Felix nodded vigorously.

Nino broke into a giant grin and laughed, bringing Felix into a hug. “I’m so happy. I want to spend every day with you, Fe. Wait!” He pulled away and looked around at the ground, finding a long piece of grass to pluck, and grabbed Felix’s right hand. “It’s the right hand, isn't it? You wear a ring on the right hand?”

“I...think so?”

Nino gently tied the piece of grass around Felix’s right ring finger, then sat back and admired his work. “There. Now we’re engaged. I’ll get you a real ring when we’re older and have money.”

Felix couldn’t help himself. He placed his hand on Nino’s cheek and carefully brought him closer until their lips brushed against each other. Pulling back, he stared shyly at the ground until Nino scootched closer and dipped his head down to capture Felix’s lips again with more certainty.

“I love you, Felix.”

Felix started crying. The tears attracted the ears of other campers, and when a girl with pigtails led Adrien and Marinette to where Felix and Nino were sitting, Nino simply told them that Felix was sad that they had to go home tomorrow.

-

“No, Inky,” Felix scolded, lifting his cat out of his suitcase. “You can’t come. Nathalie promised she’d take care of you, you’ll be fine.”

The cat maintained eye contact as she sat on the clothes folded in a pile on Felix’s bed. She swished her tail back and forth, establishing dominance.

“I know that’s where we met,” Felix continued, placing things in the case, “but I can’t keep a pet at camp. You know that. I’ll have Nathalie send me regular updates, and don’t worry, if anything goes wrong with you, I’m coming right back home.”

Inky meowed and nuzzled the suitcase. She was right--it would be tough to be apart from each other for so long. In the past ten years, they hadn’t been apart for more than a week, and now Felix was going to be a counselor at the very camp where they met. He still wasn’t exactly sure how he had convinced his father to let him have a summer job, let alone at a camp in the middle of the woods, but he suspected that Nathalie had something to do with it.

He bid his cat farewell and loaded his things into the car. The Gorilla would be dropping him off, which meant he didn’t have to talk to anyone. The ideal car ride.

Felix’s mind was full of memories from his two weeks of camping as an eight-year-old. They were the best two weeks of his life, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t solely because he was away from home. Every camp memory he had was shared with Nino. They had exchanged addresses and written each other every so often. As kids, they wrote each other every week. As they grew older, the letters got less and less frequent. Now Felix was lucky if he got a letter a year. When he finally relented and got onto social media, he’d made sure to add Nino as a friend, but he had never had the guts to message first, especially after seeing picture of Nino with a girl with a mischievous smile. So much for being in love and getting married. Felix still kept the plastic ring from a ring pop that Nino had mailed him when they were nine.

-

The campsite looked exactly how Nino had remembered. Smaller than he thought, since he had gotten so much taller, but definitely the same. He went to camp for a few years, but stopped when he was about twelve. He accepted that it would never be as good as his first year if Felix wasn’t around.

He took a long, deep breath of fresh camp air and stepped into the cabin he’d be spending his summer in. Yup. Just as humid and stuffy as he remembered. It was so strange for him to be walking into this tiny cabin and know that in a few days, he would have six small campers running around. He chuckled, remembering the days when there was only one counselor for seven campers. It was in his third year of camp that they decided to double up on counselors, and they had kept it that way since.

The cabin wasn’t empty like he expected it to be. His co-counselor was already setting up his bed, having claimed a top bunk. All Nino saw was the counselor’s collared black shirt and his messy blond bun, and it made his stomach do backflips.

“Hey.”

The blond jumped and hit his head on a beam supporting the ceiling. He turned, scowling and rubbing his head. Just as it seemed he was going to spit out some mean comments, he made eye contact with Nino and stopped.

“H-hey.”

A heavy silence passed between them. Nino quietly rolled his suitcase over to the bunk below his coworker’s.

“Is, uh, it okay if I take this one?”

“Yeah.”

Slowly, carefully, Nino started to unzip a bag to get his bed sheets and start settling in. But there was no focusing with the elephant in the room.

Staring at the dusty floor, Nino whispered, “I never thought I’d see you again.”

Felix climbed down from his bed and sat quietly on the floor in front of Nino. “I thought you stopped caring. You moved on. I saw so many pictures of you with a girl, I thought…”

“Alya?” Nino chuckled lightly and shook his head. “Yeah, I thought I could move on. You rarely answered my letters, so I thought it was over. Alya was cute and funny and all, but she told me that she couldn’t be with a dude who was hung up over his first love. And she was right.”

Raising an eyebrow, Felix said, “What do you mean, I rarely answered your letters? I wrote you all the time.”

Nino blinked for a moment, processing. “They never got to me. I got probably three letters, tops.”

Thinking back to the pile of letters Felix saved from Nino, he tried to remember how many he had answered. There wasn’t a single one he could recall that he didn’t reply to. Unless his father had tried to limit their contact.

“I _tried_ to write you,” Felix muttered. “Guess it got...intercepted.”

When the silence got to be too much, Felix moved to help Nino make his bed. He was admittedly not good at making beds, but it gave them something to do instead of stare at the floor.

“Did you keep the cat?”

Smiling, Felix nodded. “Yeah. I convinced my mom to let me keep her. Her name’s Inky and she did _not_ want me to leave for the summer.”

“I’m glad you did.” Nino flushed and started sputtering. “I, uh, I mean, it sucks that you and Inky will miss each other, but I’m glad you’re here with me. In the cabin. Being counselors together. Like old times, right? Felix and Nino, a couple of bros taking on Camp Greenwood!”

Felix looked him in the eye. “I knew I wouldn’t regret this summer, but I’m even happier to know that I’ll be spending it with you.”

Nino buried his face in his hands and tried to suppress a squeak of embarrassment.

Most of the time that was supposed to be used for settling in was used instead for catching up on the last ten years and letting themselves simply enjoy each other’s presence.

-

“Remember this place?”

“How could I not?”

Nino helped Felix step over a fallen tree and navigate the stone incline up to the clearing. They stopped when they reached the cliff overlooking the lake, quietly looking out over the horizon. It had been a long few days of counselor orientation. Here it was quiet, peaceful, and happy. The sun was setting and illuminating the water in just the right way. Felix loved how cheesy it was. He loved the way Nino's presence made him feel light and dizzy and full of energy just like it did when they were kids.

Their hands brushing together, Nino whispered, “Do you remember when we talked during the bonfire? What I asked you?”

Felix caught Nino's pinky with his own. “I meant my answer.”

Hesitantly, Nino let himself hold Felix's hand. “I know that we can't jump into anything, since we're different from ten years ago. But...would you be willing to start again and see where things go? I'm not asking for commitment, just...if you would give it a shot.”

Turning from the sunset to look into Nino's sparkling eyes, the worry lines on his face, his cheeks pink with nerves. He felt Nino's hand shaking, and surprisingly, Felix had never felt more calm, more sure.

“I wouldn't want it any other way.”

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY WONDERFUL SISTER!!! It was Camp Counselor AU. That's the one I played with. My sister Steampunkcircus (cheeseeatingtrashmonster on Tumblr) has a wonderful Nelix Camp Counselor AU that she did for Nelix week. Check it out!!


End file.
